Agrivoltaics in the UK: Solar and Farming on the Same Land

Agrivoltaics: producing food and energy on the same agricultural land

Agrivoltaics means generating solar power and farming the same ground at once: sheep grazing beneath elevated panels, shade-tolerant crops under translucent arrays, or pollinator habitat managed around ground-mount rows. It answers the food-versus-energy objection head on, because the land keeps producing while it also generates. For a larger holding with marginal or underused land it is the solar option that can change long-term farm income most, and it is also the least proven in Great Britain, so this page separates what is established from what is still modelled.

There is policy interest in it. Defra and the NFU are engaged with dual-use solar, but the Sustainable Farming Incentive does not pay for solar panels (it reopened as SFI26 in 2026, paying for land-management actions only); land under panels can sometimes sit alongside separate environmental actions, subject to scheme rules, so check with the RPA. For an agricultural business thinking a generation ahead, dual land use is a serious succession and diversification tool rather than a passing trend. Sheep grazing under elevated panels is already well established in the UK and is the simplest dual-use arrangement to deliver; crop agrivoltaics, with shade-tolerant crops such as leafy greens and soft fruit under translucent panels, is newer but showing promising trial results.

What the British research says, and what it does not

The most-cited Great Britain study is a University of Sheffield-led analysis by Talitha Neesham-McTiernan, Richard Randle-Boggis, Alastair Buckley and Sue Hartley, The spatial potential for agrivoltaics to address energy-agriculture land use conflicts in Great Britain, published in Applied Energy, volume 385 (2025). It estimates that agrivoltaics could theoretically generate 338 TWh a year while keeping output from 20,272 km² of high-grade farmland, and it uses expert stakeholder input to judge where dual use could ease conflicts between energy and agriculture.

The University of Sheffield’s release of 26 February 2025 goes further: it says the technology could meet UK electricity demand more than four times over and could meet the government’s solar targets on its own without land-use conflict, naming Cambridgeshire, Essex and Lincolnshire, and the East and South East of England more broadly, as the strongest areas. Read that as a map-based potential, not a measured farm result. The study’s own co-author says the next step should be field experiments to test how the systems perform and which designs suit which crops. In practice, a developer or installer who quotes a precise crop-yield change or revenue uplift for panels over British crops is quoting a projection.

What is established is the simplest form: sheep grazing around and beneath ground-mount rows. The Solar Roadmap notes that many projects are designed for continued livestock grazing, and Defra’s Land Use Framework expects some renewables land to stay in food production, usually through sheep grazing; our farmland guide sets out both sources. Crop agrivoltaics under translucent or widely spaced arrays is newer, so a trial area before committing a whole field is sensible. Our guide to sheep grazing under solar panels covers the lease terms and the UK planning evidence.

Dual use does not skip the land-quality test

Planning Practice Guidance asks councils whether poorer quality land has been used in preference to higher quality land, and whether the scheme allows continued agricultural use or biodiversity improvements around the arrays. Continued farming helps the case; it does not remove the need to justify using best and most versatile land (grades 1, 2 and 3a). Check your grade first with our land classification guide, then see what your acreage could host with the solar farm land calculator.

Questions to put to a developer before you agree to dual use

• Is grazing written into the option and lease as a right, or only allowed by licence, and who pays for fencing, water and stock access?
• What panel height and row spacing are proposed, and were they designed for sheep, for cutting, or for a specific crop?
• What happens to grazing during construction and maintenance, and who bears the cost of moving stock?
• What security backs decommissioning and restoration, and who can draw on it? Our land lease guide explains the options.
• Does any environmental scheme interact with the land under the panels? Check with the Rural Payments Agency, because the Sustainable Farming Incentive does not pay for panels.

What a typical scheme looks like and how it is sized

Agrivoltaic schemes are large, generally 500 kW to 10 MW and beyond, roughly 920 to 18,400 plus panels on ground-mount structures designed to allow grazing or cultivation underneath. Generation varies widely with layout, panel height and the farming use below, so a good installer or developer models each scheme individually from the site rather than quoting a standard yield. Sheep grazing under elevated panels is the most established approach in the UK and the simplest to deliver; crop agrivoltaics with translucent panels is newer, and a trial area before committing the whole site is sensible so the agronomic effect is proven for your specific crop. Sizing is a balance between generation, the farming use you intend to keep below the array, and the grid capacity available at the connection point, and the right design is the one that protects the farming use while making the generation worthwhile.

Because every site differs in soil, aspect, the intended crop or grazing and the grid position, there is no off-the-shelf agrivoltaic system. Panel height, row spacing and the degree of translucency all change both the generation and the conditions for whatever grows or grazes beneath, so the design is an exercise in balancing two outputs at once. For grazing schemes the array is elevated to allow sheep underneath and the layout protects access; for crop schemes the spacing and translucency are tuned to the light the crop needs. Ask the installer or developer to model the scheme from your land rather than drop a standard layout onto it, because a poorly matched agrivoltaic design can compromise the farming use it is meant to protect.

Grid capacity is the single biggest practical constraint on a scheme of this size. Multi-megawatt arrays need a substantial connection, and rural networks are frequently short of spare capacity, so a connection study early in the process is not optional: it shows what the network can actually take before any money is spent on detailed design. In some cases the available capacity shapes the size of the scheme, and occasionally it means phasing the project or revisiting the layout. A good installer or developer submits the G99 application and commissions the connection study at the very start, in parallel with the planning groundwork, precisely so the grid position is known before the design is fixed rather than emerging as a costly surprise later.

Costs, payback and tax relief

Indicative capital costs start around £325,000 to £450,000 for 500 kW (installer and industry guide prices for rooftop systems, ex VAT; a 1 to 5 MW farm ground-mount usually costs more per kW than utility schemes) and reach roughly £5 million to £8 million for 10 MW, based on the £526 to £789 per kWp that Arup, for DESNZ in July 2025, put on utility ground-mount above 5 MW (2023 prices, excluding land). There is no official payback figure: an owned array at this scale exports most of its output, so the return depends on the export or PPA price you secure. Many farms instead lease the land to a developer who funds and operates the array and pays rent, typically well above arable rental value, while the farm continues to graze or crop beneath. Either way the land earns twice. Ownership can draw on the 100% Annual Investment Allowance for qualifying plant within the annual cap, and the Smart Export Guarantee provides income on exported units. Where you lease rather than own, the developer carries all the capital and operational risk and you take a long-term rental income instead. Our cost guide compares the ownership and lease routes side by side.

For most farms considering agrivoltaics, the lease route is the natural starting point because the capital required to own a multi-megawatt scheme is substantial. A lease typically pays a rent above arable rental value, runs for a long term, and leaves the developer responsible for building, operating and maintaining the array, while you continue to farm beneath it. Ownership delivers more value where the farm has both the capital and strong on-site demand, but at agrivoltaic scale the generation usually far exceeds on-site use, which is why the lease model is so common. This guide sets out both routes so the choice rests on your appetite for capital and risk; ask any installer or developer to model both for your land.

Funding routes in detail

For an owned agrivoltaic array, solar is special-rate plant: the 100% Annual Investment Allowance relieves qualifying spend in full in year one up to £1m a year, and above that companies can claim the 50% special-rate first-year allowance with the balance going into the 6% special-rate pool. Solar does not qualify for full expensing. The Smart Export Guarantee provides ongoing export income for systems up to 5 MW, with MCS certification needed up to 50 kW and Ofgem ROO-FIT accreditation above that; export rates for businesses vary roughly 3p to 15p per kWh. The Sustainable Farming Incentive does not pay for solar panels (it reopened as SFI26 in 2026, paying for land-management actions only), though land under panels can sometimes sit alongside separate environmental actions, subject to scheme rules, so check with the RPA. Farms in Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland should check current devolved schemes, none of which pays for solar panels at the time of writing.

Compliance and sector considerations

Agrivoltaic ground-mount schemes should be treated as needing full planning permission, and larger schemes may need Environmental Impact Assessment screening by the local planning authority. Because these are visible, large projects, early engagement with the local authority, the NFU and the surrounding community matters, and a well-evidenced dual-use case carries real weight at planning, because keeping the land in food production is exactly what addresses the most common objection. A G99 grid application is required, and grid capacity is the usual constraint on rural networks, so a connection study early in the process is essential before final sizing. Tenant farmers need landlord consent for the change of land use; most institutional rural landlords operate standard tenant agreements, while private landlords may need a lease addendum, so take legal advice. The land should remain in agricultural use throughout, which is central to the planning case, and a good scheme design keeps it that way.

What a good installer should do on this kind of project

An agrivoltaic scheme is as much a planning and grid exercise as an engineering one, so a good installer or developer runs the connection study and the planning groundwork in parallel with the technical design rather than in sequence, which keeps the overall timeline as tight as a capacity-constrained network allows. Ask them to model the scheme individually from your land, balancing generation against the grazing or cropping you want to keep below the array, and where crop agrivoltaics is the goal, to propose a trial area with agronomic input before scaling. The G99 grid application should go in early, and the project should be structured so the land stays in agricultural use. For tenanted land, expect the developer to work through landlord consent with you, and take your own legal advice on any lease addendum. Whether you own or lease, ask for both routes to be modelled, and check what workmanship warranty and insurance the installer offers.

An illustrative example

As an illustrative example based on typical UK schemes figures, not a real farm or project, a family farm with marginal pasture enters a 25-year lease with a UK developer for an elevated ground-mount array of around 1.8 MW, roughly 3,300 panels, with sheep grazing year-round beneath. The base rent sits near 1,000 pounds per acre per year, index-linked, at the top of the 800 to 1,000 pounds per acre range developers reported to Arup for DESNZ in 2025, and the land stays in agricultural use throughout. The figures are illustrative only and depend on your land, grid position and the developer terms available in your region; ask any developer to model your own options before anything is signed, and never treat a worked example as a guaranteed outcome for a different holding.

Agrivoltaics is still the least understood corner of agricultural solar, and the right scheme depends entirely on your land, your grid position and what you want to keep farming beneath the array, so the best next step is a conversation grounded in your own site rather than a generic figure. For rooftop-led options on the same holding, see arable solar, or horticulture solar for crop-under-glass approaches. To weigh ownership against leasing, read the cost guide and the grants and funding page, then request a free quote or read the agricultural solar FAQs.